diff --git a/doc/source/overview_reaper.rst b/doc/source/overview_reaper.rst
index 0488a92863..d42539c6d6 100644
--- a/doc/source/overview_reaper.rst
+++ b/doc/source/overview_reaper.rst
@@ -40,6 +40,12 @@ troublesome spot. The account reaper will keep trying to delete an account
 until it eventually becomes empty, at which point the database reclaim process
 within the db_replicator will eventually remove the database files.
 
+Sometimes a persistent error state can prevent some object or container
+from being deleted. If this happens, you will see a message such as "Account
+<name> has not been reaped since <date>" in the log. You can control when
+this is logged with the reap_warn_after value in the [account-reaper] section
+of the account-server.conf file. By default this is 30 days.
+
 -------
 History
 -------
diff --git a/etc/account-server.conf-sample b/etc/account-server.conf-sample
index 9277616274..6d981649c1 100644
--- a/etc/account-server.conf-sample
+++ b/etc/account-server.conf-sample
@@ -117,3 +117,11 @@ use = egg:swift#recon
 # immediately; you can set this to delay its work however. The value is in
 # seconds; 2592000 = 30 days for example.
 # delay_reaping = 0
+# If the account fails to be be reaped due to a persistent error, the
+# account reaper will log a message such as:
+#     Account <name> has not been reaped since <date>
+# You can search logs for this message if space is not being reclaimed
+# after you delete account(s).
+# Default is 2592000 seconds (30 days). This is in addition to any time
+# requested by delay_reaping.
+# reap_warn_after = 2592000
diff --git a/swift/account/reaper.py b/swift/account/reaper.py
index 385d95275e..790b8663b0 100644
--- a/swift/account/reaper.py
+++ b/swift/account/reaper.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ import os
 import random
 from logging import DEBUG
 from math import sqrt
-from time import time
+from time import time, ctime
 
 from eventlet import GreenPool, sleep, Timeout
 
@@ -72,6 +72,8 @@ class AccountReaper(Daemon):
         swift.common.db.DB_PREALLOCATION = \
             config_true_value(conf.get('db_preallocation', 'f'))
         self.delay_reaping = int(conf.get('delay_reaping') or 0)
+        reap_warn_after = float(conf.get('reap_warn_after') or 86400 * 30)
+        self.reap_not_done_after = reap_warn_after + self.delay_reaping
 
     def get_account_ring(self):
         """ The account :class:`swift.common.ring.Ring` for the cluster. """
@@ -240,6 +242,8 @@ class AccountReaper(Daemon):
                     self.logger.exception(
                         _('Exception with containers for account %s'), account)
                 marker = containers[-1][0]
+                if marker == '':
+                    break
             log = 'Completed pass on account %s' % account
         except (Exception, Timeout):
             self.logger.exception(
@@ -268,6 +272,10 @@ class AccountReaper(Daemon):
         log += _(', elapsed: %.02fs') % (time() - begin)
         self.logger.info(log)
         self.logger.timing_since('timing', self.start_time)
+        if self.stats_containers_remaining and \
+           begin - float(info['delete_timestamp']) >= self.reap_not_done_after:
+            self.logger.warn(_('Account %s has not been reaped since %s') %
+                             (account, ctime(float(info['delete_timestamp']))))
         return True
 
     def reap_container(self, account, account_partition, account_nodes,
@@ -346,6 +354,8 @@ class AccountReaper(Daemon):
                                       {'container': container,
                                        'account': account})
             marker = objects[-1]['name']
+            if marker == '':
+                break
         successes = 0
         failures = 0
         for node in nodes:
diff --git a/test/unit/account/test_reaper.py b/test/unit/account/test_reaper.py
index 5ddaf2ac03..858dadf4af 100644
--- a/test/unit/account/test_reaper.py
+++ b/test/unit/account/test_reaper.py
@@ -46,6 +46,15 @@ class TestReaper(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, reaper.AccountReaper,
                           {'delay_reaping': 'abc'})
 
+    def test_reap_warn_after_conf_set(self):
+        conf = {'delay_reaping': '2', 'reap_warn_after': '3'}
+        r = reaper.AccountReaper(conf)
+        self.assertEquals(r.reap_not_done_after, 5)
+
+    def test_reap_warn_after_conf_bad_value(self):
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, reaper.AccountReaper,
+                          {'reap_warn_after': 'abc'})
+
     def test_reap_delay(self):
         time_value = [100]